1. Field of the Invention
The continued dependence upon whole blood obtained from individuals for replenishing blood in another person requires the monitoring of large volumes of blood for their blood group type. In determining the blood group, one is interested in a number of factors: The particular type in the ABO group; the presence of isoantibodies to the antigens of the ABO group; and the Rh type. Where each of these factors must be determined independently, a large number of tests are involved. For the most part, hemagglutination tests have been involved in measuring the various factors, which are subjective labor intensive and cumbersome. Furthermore. they have not readily lent themselves to automation, so that the tests can be run rapidly with minimum involvement of a technician. It is therefore desirable to find techniques which allow for minimal numbers of determination, automation of the method of determination, while accurately reporting the information necessary for blood typing.
2. Brief Description of the Prior Art
Hoffman et al., Int. J. Immunopharmac. (1981) 3(3): 249-254 describes immunofluorescent analysis of blood cells by flow cytometry. Methods for measuring fluorescent beads may be found in Briggs et al., Science (1981) 212:1266-1267 and Nicoli et al., PNAS USA (1980) 77:4904-4908. See also copending application Ser. No. 397,285, filed July 12, 1982, which disclosures incorporate herein by reference, as describing an alternate technique for measuring fluorescent cells. For a general description, see Flow Cytometry and Sorting, (eds. Melamed et al.) John Wiley and Sons, N.Y., 1979.